"Take the camp first, then attack the south gate!" "Then can we divide our troops to attack the other gates and disperse the officers and soldiers?" "No, there are many rivers and lakes outside Xiuzhou City. If we divide our troops and the officers and soldiers leave the city for a side attack, we will Contact and rescue remain unchanged, if there is a setback, it will only destroy morale!" Fang Qifei nodded. Demon King Zheng pointed out the advantages and disadvantages of Fang La's army. The advantage is that there are many people, and the number is almost unlimited. The disadvantages are the lack of combat experience and weapons, poor organization, and insufficient fighting will. Once defeated, it is easy to collapse. There are lakes and rivers outside Xiuzhou City. If the rebel army divides its forces to surround the four gates, the defenders can completely use the inside line. Due to their mobility advantage, they can pick out the weak and defeat them, but Fang La's army will find it difficult to support each other due to the river obstruction. Once they see their own side being defeated, Fang La's army will easily become demoralized. It's better to seize the camp first, then attack the south gate, and fight them at the expense, since we have no shortage of people anyway. "What Brother Zheng said is true!" Fang Qifei clapped his hands and ordered to the herald on the side: "Send the order, beat the drums, let the first left wing attack the camp first!" With the rumbling drums, thousands of people The Manichaeans began to move forward slowly. These were the tribes directly under Fang Qifei, and their training and weapons were much stronger than those of other leaders. The reason why he let his team take the lead was not only to hope for a good start, but also to give other leaders no excuse to retain their strength and refuse to fight hard. No matter who is cowering next, even if he chops off his head, no one has anything to say. "The Mani thieves are here!" Chang Zongtian whispered. Zhou Ping nodded silently, and saw in the morning fog that had gradually dissipated, a group of Mani thieves wearing red scarves slowly pressed towards the camp. Their equipment was very rudimentary, and many of them only had short knives and bamboo spears in their hands. , almost no one wears armor, and the biggest defense is a wooden sign hanging on the chest or a makeshift shield. However, the number of attackers alone can bring huge pressure to the defenders, and the sound of their chanting scriptures can be vaguely heard in the wind. A poem suddenly flashed in Zhou Ping's mind: "Like the morning dew, the past days will be more miserable!" "Get ready!" Seeing that the Mani army had entered the range of the crossbows, Chang Zongtian, who served as the governor, issued an order, and an archer He took a few steps forward, fully drew his bow, and shot an arrow diagonally upward. The arrow made a sharp whistle and flew forward, landing three or four steps in front of the Mani thief. "Archers, come forward!" Following the long-voiced command from the leader of the team, rows of archers lined up and stepped forward, taking out arrows from their backs and inserting them into the ground. Every two or three people there was a clay pot and a torch stuck on the ground. The archers dipped their arrows in the clay pot twice, lit them on the torch, and stringed the arrows, waiting for the command from the team leader. "Let go!" A burst of rockets fell on Fang Lajun's head like raindrops. A scream immediately came from the crowd. The sharp arrow penetrated the torso and tore the muscles. The person who was shot in the vital part immediately They fell to the ground, but some unfortunate people had their feet nailed to the ground by arrows falling from the sky, unable to move. The flames ignited the clothes of many people. They instinctively fought against the flames, and Fang Lajun's team suddenly became confused. ¡°Damn it, you actually let the officers and soldiers take the lead, hurry up and beat the drums and wave the flag!¡± Fang Qifei cursed. It turns out that in general stories, no matter whether the enemy is attacked by foot or cavalry, they never run with all their strength from the beginning. This will not only waste the physical strength of the soldiers and horses, but also cause confusion in the formation. Generally speaking, the impact is started at the edge of the enemy's crossbowman's range. This can not only reduce casualties, but also save more physical strength. However, Fang Qifei used the bow range of the southern army he encountered as a reference. Unexpectedly, most of the crossbowmen in Zhou Ping's army were the elite of the Western Army. They used strong bows of at least one stone, and their range was naturally not those of the weak ones. The soft bows used by the Song army in the south can be compared. Under the rapid beating of drums and the urging of the leaders, the Manichaeans began to run quickly. The goal of most people is the village gate located between the two protruding corners. The reason is very simple, and the protruding corners on both sides are too narrow, and there are trenches and earth walls for protection. Even if they were captured , it is impossible to deploy enough troops to seize the stronghold. Only by seizing the gate of the stronghold can the Manichaeans from outside pour into the stronghold and give full play to our numerical advantage. Although the officers and soldiers rained down arrows, there were too many Manichaeans. Soon they rushed to the trench and threw bundles of firewood and earth bags into the trench, or simply used more than ten spears to build a simple structure on the trench. The bridge was built in an attempt to cross the trench and go straight to the gate of Bozhai. . "Come forward, God-Arm Archers!" Following the command, the God-Arm Archers, who had been recharging their energy for a long time, boarded the earthen ramparts on both sides and began to shoot at the Manicheans crowded near the village gate, with powerful crossbows. The arrows hit people's heads head-on, and many crossbow arrows even penetrated two or even three people. In order to make up for the lack of numbers and timing,In order to improve the physical strength of the archers, Zhou Ping selected hundreds of strong men from the city to specifically load the crossbows. Crossbow bolts rained down without stopping. The guards also threw lighted torches and fireballs at the enemy's heads, which immediately burned them to pieces. The believers could no longer bear such a blow, so they dropped their weapons and turned around. escape. "Stop!" Zhou Ping issued an order, ordering the shooters to retreat and rest, waiting for the enemy's second attack. "Second formation!" Fang Qifei's face was a bit ugly, but he still immediately issued the order to attack. With the rumbling drums, the second wave of Fang La's army began to move forward slowly. This time Fang Qifei absorbed Lessons learned, he issued the order at the right time, and after a few more minutes of the second wave of attacks, they retreated. "Third Formation!" "Sixth Formation!" Fang Qifei's face was already livid, it was already afternoon, and he could see that a thick layer of corpses had been piled up in front of the village, but the only The result of the battle was only to fill up a section of the ditch in front of the village gate. This was completely beyond his previous expectations. Without turning his head, he could see that the big and small leaders on both sides were pale and uneasy. It was obvious that these guys were no longer willing to pay the price for this small camp. "Sixth formation!" Fang Qifei raised his voice, but no one responded loudly. He widened his eyes and shouted to a lean man next to him: "Yang Badong, why don't you accept the order!" The thin man sneered and said: "I brought the people here to kill officials and rebel, and to lead the men to make a fortune. They are not here to be targets for the officers and soldiers! You drive the people to the gate of the village and shoot them with crossbows on both sides. No matter how many people there are, it won¡¯t be enough for you!¡± Seeing the other party¡¯s behavior, Fang Qifei smiled instead: ¡°So you are going to disobey me!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t scare me with this thing!¡± Yang Bagong whistled, Immediately, dozens of men surrounded him, all of whom were obviously his confidants: "At most, we can break up in two. I have thousands of people under my command. If the court recruits me, at least there will be a custodian!" "You¡ª¡ª" Fang Qifei was furious when he heard this and was about to draw his sword with his backhand. When Yang Bagong saw this, they also drew their swords one after another. The swords on the high ground suddenly became tense, as if they were about to start a fight. "Everyone put down their swords!" Demon King Zheng walked between the two groups with arms crossed and shouted: "They are all disciples of Ming Zun, what does this mean!" When Yang Bagong saw that there were few people on his side, he snorted coldly and returned the sword to its sheath. Demon King Zheng turned his eyes to Fang Qifei, who snorted coldly and signaled his men to put down their weapons. Demon King Zheng nodded slightly: "Everyone, it's getting late today, so let's attack here. Prepare more equipment and attack the stronghold again!" "Finally retreated!" Looking at the enemy's flag, it began to slowly move towards After moving back, Zhou Ping finally breathed a sigh of relief. Looking up, there were layers of corpses in the open space. The goose feathers on the arrow tails were connected together, as if there had been a heavy snowfall. Especially in the area in front of the camp gate, the corpses were almost piled up into a hill. "Yes! If it continues like this, even if the arrows are enough, people will not have the strength to draw the bow!" Chang Zongtian sighed. As he said, although Zhou Ping actually requisitioned more than a thousand civilians specifically for crossbows, The hands and divine arms of the archers were strung up, but the archers had to rely on their own physical strength, and in the later waves, the ditch in front of the village gate had long been filled in, and the Manichaeans rushed directly to the village gate. At this distance, even There are three soft bows and five swords, and even if it hits the vital point, it will kill someone. If they come two or three more times, I'm afraid Zhou Ping and the others will have to abandon the camp and retreat to the city. "Let the soldiers retreat and rest. As for the arrows, let the civilians come out to collect them, and collect the corpses as well." Zhou Ping looked at the corpses scattered outside the village gate and sighed: "Fortunately it is winter, if it is summer After one night, I will definitely get sick!" "Seeing the various scenes of life and death, I know that all the phenomena of Maha are empty, and there is no permanent life. I wish to get rid of this body" According to Zhou Ping's order, the two The centenarian carefully came out of the side door, retrieved the arrows, and piled up the corpses. The corpses on the ground frightened the people who had lived in peace not long ago. Several monks in the city followed the citizen and stood beside the corpses. In front of the pile, they poured clear oil and lit it. They stood aside and recited Buddhist scriptures and prayed for the blessings of these people who died unexpectedly. Surrounded by soldiers and civilians, they all knelt down and worshiped devoutly. There were also faint sounds of mourning coming from the distance. It is the Manichaeans who are doing rituals for their dead robes. Seeing this desolate scene, listening to Buddhist scriptures and distant cries, and smelling the disgusting smell of corpses, Zhou Ping couldn't help but sigh, then he clasped his hands and closed his eyes and prayed: "No matter who you were before you were alive. , I just hope that after your death you can be reborn in a peaceful era and be able to live a happy life, instead of being like a mayfly in the morning and disappearing in a moment!" (To be continued.)